One Canadian team is going to advance to the Western Conference Finals this season and time will tell if it's going to be the Edmonton Oilers or the Vancouver Canucks. The Oilers and Flames rivalry has died down in the last couple seasons as the Flames begin a rebuild. Looking through social media it is becoming quite apparent that the Oilers and Canucks are igniting a new rivalry which should be on display Wednesday evening.

The Oilers lost all four games against the Canucks in the regular season. They were outscored 7-21 in those games. Three of those games came at the beginning of the season when the Oilers were in an absolute tailspin, most notably an 8-1 loss in the season opener. The last matchup, Edmonton was without McDavid (and Vancouver was without Demko). That all being said, the Winnipeg Jets went 3-0-0 against the Avalanche in the regular season, outscoring them 17-4. In the post-season, after losing Game 1 7-6, Colorado would win 4 straight games, continuing to score 5+ goals against the Jets.

As of right now, the Oilers are the heavy favorites to win this series with much of it having to do with how the Canucks closed out their season and played in the first round. Vancouver finished 27th in the NHL in goals for at 5 on 5 from the beginning to March to the end of the regular season with 38 goals in 20 games. That is averaging fewer than 2 goals a game. Edmonton over that same stretch put up 65 goals in their last 25 games, leading the NHL.

While I did state that regular season success means very little in the playoffs, that same production carried over. The Canucks finished 13th in scoring in the first round of the playoffs against a fairly weak Preds team. The Predators played stingy defense and blocked a good number of shots but you would expect the Canucks best players to break through.

That lack of offense continued for the Canucks on the powerplay, scoring only 2 goals in 6 games on the man advantage, finishing 12th with a PP% of 15.4%. Edmonton scored 9 powerplay goals and led all playoff teams with a PP$ of 45%. Fun fact, every series in the first round was won by the team who performed better at special teams.

Now let's talk about threats. The Oilers had 4 different multi goal scorers in the first round:
Zach Hyman: 7
Leon Draisaitl: 5
Evander Kane: 2
Dylan Holloway: 2

Vancouver meanwhile had 5:
Brock Boeser: 4
Elias Lindholm: 2
Nikita Zadorov: 2
Dakota Joshua: 2
Pius Suter: 2

Both teams had some of the usual suspects producing as well as some surprising goals from depth options. While Vancouver had the edge in multi goal players, Edmonton had 10 different players score at least a goal while Vancouver had 6.

There are a couple players on both team that have yet to play their best. From the Canucks, Elias Pettersson has been the focus some scrutiny for his 3 assist, 0 goals, and -2 in 6 games. Expectations are high for Pettersson after a career year and an expensive new contract to boot. The Predators did an excellent job to stymie the forward but the Oilers certainly need to be wary of this player once he finds his edge.

The same should go for J.T. Miller. Like many of the Canucks, Miller started the season red hot with a high shooting percentage but that began to fall back down as the season progressed. Miller had 6 points in the opening series but only a single goal. He did lead the way for the Canucks in shots with 17 so the Oilers must find ways to contain him as long as possible as well.

For the Oilers, it's odd to say but despite leading the team with 12 points in 5 games, Connor McDavid still has more to give. McDavid had only a single goal against the Kings but still had his looks. It's likely that the captain will find a bit more ice to move on against the Canucks so as always it's a matter of when and not if for #97.

Now the biggest X factor of this series; goaltending. The Canucks are currently using their 3rd string netminder as Demko is still likely out long term and DeSmith is battling an injury as well. Silovs has been excellent thus far in 3 starts for Vancouver, with a 1.7GAA and a SV% of 0.938. Adin Hill is proof that a 3rd string netminder can come in and be red hot at the right time.

The Oilers should be able to produce a far more potent offense than what the Nashville Predators were able to muster and Silovs is going to be dealing with far more high danger chances as well as a far more lethal powerplay. The Oilers need to find ways to get to Silovs early and often and prevent him from growing comfortable in any game.

---

As of right now I do have the series in favor of the Oilers. The recent struggles of the Canucks to produce combined with the big question marks around their netminders are big advantages for Edmonton. That being said, the game is never played on paper. The Canucks have shown throughout this season that when they are at their best, they are a potent force to deal with and can force Edmonton to make the critical errors that have led to many of their previous losses.

It should be a fantastic series.

Thanks for reading!

Join the Discussion: » 27 Comments » Post New Comment

» Oilers vs Canucks Round 2 Game 6

» Oilers vs Canucks Round 2 Game 5

» Oilers vs Canucks Round 2 Game 4

» Oilers vs Canucks Round 2 Game 3

» Oilers vs Canucks Round 2 Game 2